~*~ Real life blows your mind ~*~

[Zankaru Zelladonii]

Many things in life make me speechless, the sight of a full moon framed by a sky of silver clouds is one that never fails to give me chills. Then there are days I learn of something that I am in awe of and can't help but ask myself; "Am I really seeing this? I am alive and this is happening?". What are some of yours?

Prosthetic arms that use thought to control, and even feel.


~*~ZZ~*~

Cell Phones - Aldraia Dragonsong
The Internet - Psalm of Fire
Theory of Everything and Surfer's Theory of Everything - Vael
"Well, don't forget Humanity's ability to mercilessly exploit something new beyond what it's inventors though possible." - Jgkitarel

[Farmer_10]

Science, you magnificent bastard.

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

That is amazing and utterly awesome and I am happy to hear about it.
Frankly, the widespread use and tiny size of cellular telephones amazes me. How on Earth do they get them so compact?

[Zankaru Zelladonii]

Cell phone are amazing indeed. I can pick up this square of plastic and talk to someone on the other side of the planet in real time?

[Psalm Of Fire]

Realtime internet communication/gaming, and the non-metered nature of it. Blows my mind.

[Vael]

Every single time scientists discover something new about the universe or come up with incredible theories.

Each time that happens, the scientist in me, long buried, wakes up and takes a good long look at what I already know and then goes, "Alright, time to catch up." It's always a wonderful feeling.

And right now, my current obsession: Theory of Everything / An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything

[Zankaru Zelladonii]

I remember seeing Lisi on the science channel a while back, was a nice documentary.

[jgkitarel]

Well, don't forget Humanity's ability to mercilessly exploit something new beyond what it's inventors though possible.

[FeatherBlade]

That is amazing and utterly awesome and I am happy to hear about it.
Frankly, the widespread use and tiny size of cellular telephones amazes me. How on Earth do they get them so compact?

Fractals, I believe.

The more bends are in the antenna, the smaller it can be, while still picking up signals. If I remember correctly, it can also pick up more signals than a larger, less complex antenna. There was some documentary on it a few years back.

[jgkitarel]

There is also the power differential between the two transmitters/receivers involved.. Your standard Cell Tower operates with a 10 Megawatt transmitter (in relation to signal strength), while a cell phone operates between 800 Kilowatts and 1 Megawatt for signal strength.

Technobabble Follows:

Spoiler: show

A Cell tower has a theoretical maximum range of approximately 33-35 km, depending on how many timinng advances (which are ~550m) the tower is programmed to have and any programmed setup in the Base Tranceiver Station for the tower. It also depends on the Cell Phone Type. TDMA (Time Differentiated Modular Access), which is still the standard for GSM Cell Phones operates on is the easiest to explain.

TDMA is designed with an eight channel transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) set up, all of which are then divded by time and frequency. Each of the 8 channels are being transmitted on the same frequency on a 557 microsecond hop for each channel for that specific frequency. Each set of eight channels is then divided by a 200 KHz frequency gap which repeats the same. Depending on the frequency system that the Cell Network is on: GSM 900/1800, (European Standard) or GSM 800/1900 (US Standard) also differentiates the number of frequencies used. Most Large Cell Towers can handle several thousand calls at one time, while smaller microcells (such as inside buildings) may only be able to handle a few dozen.

Yeah, I know GSM architecture, and you can find out more on wikipedia which can eventually lead you to a site which explains it in all the details.

If you think that's impressive, look at IPv6 architecture.